William i



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM I. \VEEGAR, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

BATTLE-SHIP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 625,130, dated May 16,1899.

Application filed May 19, 1898. Serial No. 681,122. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, WILLIAM I. WEEGAR, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of New York, in the county and State of New York, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Battle-Ships, of which thefollowing is a' specification.

My invention relates to anv improvement in battle-ships with a View toproviding a comparatively extensive battery-space while keeping themagazines and propelling mechanism completely shielded by Water.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in theaccompanying drawings, in w hich Figure 1 represents the ship in sideelevation. Fig. 2 is a top plan View. Fig. 3 is an end view looking atthe bow, and Fig. 4 is a transverse section in the plane of the line 4 4of Fig. 1.

The hull A of the ship may be of any desired shape in cross-section tosuit the particular purposes for which the ship is built, the plan hereshown being of the shallow type for use in harbors where there is notgreat depth of water.

The hull is provided with a deck a, convex in cross-section, which isintended to be sufficiently armored to prevent a shell or shot frompiercing it. The deck is extended upon opposite sides beyond the sidesof the hull, forming wings a, the under sides of which are concave andthe upper sides convex, so that they will tend to prevent the ship fromrolling and at the same time guard the upper portions of the sides ofthe hull near the surface of the water.

Uprising from the hull of the ship at intervals are towersin the presentinstance two main towers B B, preferably located at about equaldistances from the opposite ends of the ship, and a pair of end towers O0, both of which are conning-towers. There is also a tower, denoted byD, located amidships for the purpose of protecting the smoke-stacksleading from the boilers. Each of the towers may be provided with one ormore staircases of any well-known or approved form leading from theinterior of the hull of the ship.

The several towers B B, O O, and D are connected by an armoredhorizontal chamber,

crown-d eck a of the hull.

denoted as a whole by E and spaced from the The several towers referredto form a support'for the armored chamber E and between it and the deckare made of polygonal form in cross-sectionin the present instancesquare with a diagonal of the square in alinement with the longitudinalaxis of the hull, so that they present sharp corners to the front andrear. The polygonal portions of the towers intermediate of the armoredchamber and the deck are de noted, respectively, by b b, c c, and d. Thechamber E extends continuously in the present instance from a point infront of the forward tower O to'a point to the rear of the rear tower Oand has an irregular diamond shape in cross-section, as clearlyindicated in Fig. 4- that is, its roof slants downwardly in oppositedirections from a longitudinally-extending horizontal ridge etheopposite sides of the bottom of the said chamber extending from theopposite edges of the top of the charm ber toward one another in adownwardly-inclined direction and meeting along a line 6 in the verticalplane of the ridge e.

The opposite sides of the roof are denoted, respectively, by e 6 and theopposite sides of the bottom are denoted, respectively, by 6 eBroadside-guns are mounted at intervals throughout the length of thechamber E and also at its opposite ends, it being intended that thearmor of the chamber E and the towers shall be sufficiently heavy toeffectually turn to one side any projectile which might strike it. Thetowers B B are intended for mounting heavy guns above the chamber E. Theshape is such that no matter from what direction in a substantiallyhorizontal plane a projectile may strike that portion of the ship abovewater it will strike an inclined surface and will be glanced off, saveonly the very im probable chance that the apex of the projectile impingedirectly against the sharp edge of the chamber or tower, and even thenit is intended that the armor be suflicient to withstand it. While soprotected by water from projectiles which may be directed toward it, pthe ship is at the same time seaworthy, for the reason that thegun-chamber'is spaced above the deck, where it will permit the freeswash of the waves across the deck beneath 2 ozsnso I easily solved bythose accustomed to shipbuilding.

In addition to her guns the above-described battle-ship is adapted forshooting torpedoes from points both below and above the surface of thewateras, for example, through the ports F along the side and through theport f at the bow, which may be in action slightly above or slightlybelow the surface of the water, as desired.

- It is obvious that the arrangement of the guns, the number andlocation of the towers, and the shape of the armored longitudinalgun-chamber in cross-section may be changed without departing from thespirit and scope ofvmyinvention. Hence I do not Wish to limit myselfstrictly to the structure herein set forth; but

What I claim is I A battle-ship comprising a hull, conningtowersuprising from the. hull at or near its opposite ends, gun-towersuprising from the hull intermediate of the conning-towers, a sunoke-stack tower uprising from the hull and a horizontal gun-chamberconnecting the sev-. eral towers and spaced from the deck of the hull,the said conning and gun towers extending above the roof of thehorizontal gun-chamber, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my inventionI have signed myname, in presence of two witnesses,this 14th day of May, 1898.

WILLIAM I. YVEEGAR.

\Vitnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, EDWARD VIESER;

